Of Lakes and Bonds
by MindYourMind
Summary: Sakura visits Naruto and Sasuke in the hospital as they recover from the last battle in the Valley of the End. And then she calls them out on their rivalry eclipsing team bonds. Oneshot.


Sakura paced back and forth before the two hospital beds, boots ringing loud in a pensive beat against the floor. She barely heard the sound echoing back from the severe white walls, instead trying to focus on a mental picture of a lake, still and cool and serene.

If she wrapped herself in a vision of blue sky mirroring water, she wouldn't see her teammates lying unconscious side by side, recuperating from their latest attempt to kill each other at the Valley of the End.

If she imagined the faintest chirping of a bird zipping by a grassy bank, she wouldn't listen to Sasuke's breathing, fitful and shallow, as if he couldn't even find peace in slumber.

If she focused on water without a ripple in sight, she wouldn't see the wrinkled bed sheets where the stump of Naruto's right arm rested.

If she could remove herself to a peaceful dreamworld, she wouldn't think about her boys leaving her behind.

She wouldn't wonder why they thought the fight had been just between them, when no matter what the outcome, Sakura would bear the scars of the aftermath, and fight those scars for the rest of her life. Wouldn't want to beat them senseless, or lock them away for good, or kill them herself to save time and heartache. Wouldn't want to sit with her back against the door and cry.

She wondered if it was possible to catch a genjutsu on oneself. Then, she realized she already had, in a way. For the longest time, she had glossed over Sasuke's and Naruto's childhood grievances, painting Sasuke as this fairy tale ice prince and Naruto as some ridiculous jester to make the butt of all jokes. It had taken all of those three years for her to come to terms with just how dark and dangerous Sasuke was, and how genuine and caring Naruto was.

And everything she learned about them had flashed before her eyes when she ran to kneel beside them as they lay bleeding, but reconciled.

Sakura stopped her march and stamped her foot angrily. It was no use trying to envision something soothing, her mind went where it willed, and its will was glued to those two idiots. She turned her back to them, firmly telling herself it was time she walked out the door for a breath of fresh air.

She heard a faint sneeze behind her. To her irritation, she didn't have to look to know it was Naruto. Only he sneezed as if his lungs were trying to escape out his nostrils.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice was slurred with sleep and medication.

Reluctantly, Sakura turned around and walked up to sit by him on the mattress. His good eye scanned her face blearily, as if trying to pick a feature to bring into focus. Sakura could have sworn he settled on her forehead before blinking rapidly and grinning with recognition.

"We're back in Konoha, aren't we? Sasuke, he made it too, right?" said Naruto. His eyes began roaming, but his neck was stiff, so he couldn't do much more than twitch and blink. He looked like one Jiraiya's very confused toad summons.

"Yes," Sakura answered, her voice a bit terse. "He's right next to you."

"Dobe, you know perfectly well you couldn't have survived if I -"

Sakura and Naruto both started a little in surprise at the raspy sound of Sasuke's voice. Their jaws dropped when Sasuke sneezed before he could finish. He quickly tried to save face by glaring, but since he was also too stiff to turn his head, his efforts were wasted on the ceiling. Sakura watched him lie there, pale and immovable, still somehow raditating the gravitational pull of a black hole.

"Is it just me, or did he look and sound like a kitty just now?" Naruto whispered loudly in Sakura's direction.

Sakura wasn't concerned with that just now. She hastily stood up, almost stumbling under the weight of her own feelings.

"Both of you," she said, slowly and methodically, eyeing them in turn, "knew very well you were unlikely to survive." Naruto stopped grinning, and his open eye widened further. Sasuke's ever-expressive eyebrows rose, as if meeting a challenge. "You knew Sai finally felt like he had a family. You knew Kakashi had just lost Obito - again." Her voice hitched slightly, but she gulped and went on, voice ringing louder and louder. "You knew I had come into my own, and surpassed even a goddess. You knew all that - and you still thought that you had to test your new powers against each other in a battle for the world. You still thought everything boiled down to you."

"Sakura," Naruto and Sasuke said, unknowingly speaking in unison. Sasuke's brow had furrowed without her noticing. Naruto was trying to reach out with the hand that wasn't there.

Her eyes stung with tears that felt like acid laced with fire, but she still refused to cry. "You were perfectly fine with daring each other in a stupid death pact," she hissed. Her fists balled at her sides, and she wondered no blood vessels or chakra pathways were bursting. "But it wasn't okay to include Sakura. Sakura couldn't be the voice of reason to talk you into being sensible, or wedge herself between you and die in the crossfire. Oh, no!"

She turned and stepped a few paces away, before turning back to level them with a glare. "No," she said, voice softening, the way it had when she faked a smile at Sai. "Sakura had to live. Sakura had to heal whoever survived, and bury whoever didn't. Sakura had to nurse you back to health, or else nurse your memory with tear-drenched flowers at your graves."

Rivulets of salt water flowed down the whisker marks on Naruto's cheek. Sasuke stared at her with a blank, hollow look in his dark eyes, as if he'd woken up without his soul.

Sakura sighed, and shrugged, as if the motion could heft away all her anger and resentment. "Well boys," she said, "Sakura has dragged your bodies here, and now Sakura will make her exit. If you need anything, Shizune will be in shortly. I have other ninja with war wounds to heal. Don't choke on the ice cream later."

She hadn't even made it to the door before Naruto was wailing and blubbering like he would die right there.

"Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry! So sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! I'd never hurt your feelings, if I knew! I care about you, you are so precious to me, don't be angry, don't go!"

This didn't surprise Sakura. She had already steeled herself against it. Shaking her head without looking back, she reached forward to fling the door open.

"Sakura," Sasuke said. His tone was strange, and not just because his was still rasping through a dry throat. She wanted to flinch when she recognized it as almost the same tone he used when speaking about Itachi.

"Sakura, don't . . . be . . . like me," Sasuke said. His breathing hitched again, like he was back to dreaming something he couldn't quite bear. "We . . ." She heard him clenching his teeth in frustration. She pressed her palms flat against the closed door, anchoring herself.

"Sakura-chan, we need you to acknowledge us!" Naruto exclaimed, voice drifting to a gravelly rumble. He coughed before going on. "We have our bond, yes, but we have a bond with you, too! And though the bastard won't admit it, part of our bond was built competing to impress you and Kakashi-_sensei_. It wasn't just us trying to be strong for ourselves-we wanted to make the team strong, too!"

"Hn."

"Bastard! Did you just agree to make a liar out of me?!" Naruto howled. "Look, Sakura-chan! We care! We do! And we're sorry for being a jerk with hair like a duck's butt and a fool with brains and stomach like lead. But we're not complete without our flower with a suckerpunch like an anvil!"

Sakura rested her forehead against the door. She thought of a lake, cool and still and serene. And then she realized just how utterly boring such a place really was, if she didn't have any of her precious people there to share it with her. Even if they spoiled the scenery with explosive jutsu.

She turned, and flashed them a genuine smile. She was surprised, and a little pleased, to see that both of them seemed temporarily blinded by its warmth. Or maybe that was just the sunlight seeping in through the shuttered window.

"Maybe I can stay five minutes," she said. "If only to make sure Naruto doesn't give himself hiccups. Now both of you had better relax, or so help me, you'll find yourselves flying out that widow with shutters for wings!"

Neither boy uttered a word as she strode up to stand at the foot of their beds. They lay still for the moment, rolled their eyes, and pouted. Now they both looked like disgruntled cats. Sakura's smile widened.

The team was finally back together, and together to stay. Togetherness was her dream, now that Sakura was a fearsome kunoichi and celebrated medic in her own right. And she would make sure that Naruto and Sasuke helped her keep the dream well and alive. No matter how many ripples destroyed the lake in her inner sanctum, no matter what happened, she'd keep them close.

Team 7 would be damn well everlasting, she vowed, and anybody who didn't believe it could have a heart-to-heart chat with Naruto. If Sakura's flying fists and Sasuke's lashing fire didn't persuade them first.


End file.
